Latest MOLA Views of the Mars '98 South Polar Landing Site
Presented at the Mars '98 Landing Site Science Press Conference
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, December 2, 1999
and Updated December 5, 1999 to Show Most Likely Landing Locations
of MPL and DS-2 Based on Post-Landing Navigation Reconstructions*
Pre-Landing Maps
Mars '98 landing region as viewed from 40,000 kilometers away from Mars. The figure is a high-resolution, false-colored orthographic projection of Mars topography from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). The topographic model is based on a global grid compiled from about 200,000,000 MOLA elevation measurements. The accuracy of the topographic model is <5 m and the spatial resolution is about 15 kilometers at the equator and 3 kilometers at the landing site. The Mars Polar Lander is believed to have landed in the south polar layered terrains within the landing ellipse shown in black. The Hellas impact basin is the large circular structure on the right of the image and the Argyre impact basin lies at the top left. The red/white areas on the left represent the southern part of the Tharsis region. (Credit: MOLA Science Team)
False-color, three-dimensional view of the Mars '98 landing region and surroundings. The landing site lies within the south polar layered terrains which are elevated by about 2.5 kilometers above the surrounding cratered highlands of Mars' southern hemisphere. The layered terrains are believed to consist of layers of ice and dust deposited on seasonal and long-term climatic cycles on Mars. The latest estimate of the expected lander position is latitude -76.13° S, 164.66° E. Efforts are underway to understand the nature of the terrain in which the lander presumably set down. (Credit: MOLA Science Team)
False-color high resolution topographic map of the Mars Polar Lander landing zone in Mars' south polar region. The white plus sign indicates the target landing site. The black dashed box is the broad landing zone from which the specifica site was chosen by NASA based on navigation and landing safety considerations. (Credit: MOLA Science Team)
Probable Landing Locations of Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space-2 Probes Based on Post-Landing Navigation Reconstructions
These maps were produced by the MOLA Science Team in support of MPL and DS-2 landing activities. The "criss-crossing lines" in the false-color views are individual orbit tracks and represent vertical errors of about 2 meters in the topographic profiles. These maps are the highest resolution maps of Mars yet produced by the MOLA team. In all maps below, south is at the bottom of the image. (This is in contrast to the maps above.)
False-color mercator topographic map of the Mars Polar Lander landing zone. This map contains all MOLA data through December 3, 1999. The probable landing location is -76.13° S, 164.66° E (Credit: MOLA Science Team)
Topographic contour map of the Mars Polar Lander landing zone. This map contains all MOLA data through December 3, 1999. The probable landing location is -76.13° S, 164.66° E. (Credit: MOLA Science Team)
False-color mercator map of the possible landing site of the Deep Space-2 probes. This map contains all MOLA data through December 3, 1999. The probable landing location is -75.10° S, 163,65° E. (Credit: MOLA Science Team)
False-color topographic map of the Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space-2 landing zones. This mercator map contains all MOLA data through December 3, 1999. The probable location of the MPL landing is -76.13° S, 164.66° E and that of DS-2 is -75.10° S, 163,65° E. (Credit: MOLA Science Team)
Topographic contour map of the probable Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space-2 landing areas. This map contains all MOLA data through December 3, 1999. The probable location of the MPL landing is -76.13° S, 164.66° E and that of DS-2 is -75.10° S, 163,65° E. (Credit: MOLA Science Team)
*NOTE
THE MOLA investigation uses an areocentric coordinate system with an east-positive longitude convention, which is identically the same as the system used by the JPL and Lockheed-Martin engineers to navigate the spacecraft.
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